A mum who has ran 3,000 miles during one pregnancy - including a marathon at 31 weeks - says it helps her feel in control of her body.<br /><br />Sophie Carter, 43, kept running through each of her four pregnancies - even completing eight miles a day when she was 36 weeks pregnant with twins.<br /><br />While pregnant with her youngest child, Teddy, in 2022, she did a 50km race, two 100kms and a marathon at 31 weeks pregnant - which she completed in three hours and 39 minutes. <br /><br />She even squeezed in a 12 mile jog the day before she gave birth.<br /><br />Sophie estimates she ran 3,000 miles during her most recent pregnancy - and was back at it two days after labour. <br /><br />The mum-of-five said it helps her to stay mentally healthy while juggling work, carrying a baby and looking after young children.<br /><br />Sophie describes the sensation of running while pregnant as “like carrying a heavy round backpack on your front.” <br /><br />The personal trainer, from Woodstock, Oxford, said: “When you’re pregnant it can feel like your body’s not your own and you’re being taken over by something out of your control. <br /><br />"Being able to keep running gave me that peace of mind to say, ‘I’m still me’.<br /><br />Sophie has always enjoyed long distance running and completed her first marathon in 2006, aged 25.<br /><br />Inspired by former Team GB marathon-runner Paula Radcliffe, Sophie continued running throughout her first pregnancy with her daughter, Faith, in 2009, to keep fit. <br /><br />But when her mum, Auriel, fell ill with bowel cancer in 2012, she began to focus on running more seriously. <br /><br />At the time, Sophie was pregnant with her second child, Ethan, and her then-husband was posted to Afghanistan as part of the British Army. <br /><br />She was looking after her firstborn Faith at home alone, and running became her “safe space”.<br /><br />When Sophie became pregnant with twins Jaxon and Isla in 2020, she continued running eight miles a day. <br /><br />Sophie found out she was six-weeks pregnant with her youngest child, Teddy, in April last year, aged 42, a week before a 100km race.<br /><br />Sophie came 6th, finishing in eight hours and 30 minutes - just 19 minutes off her personal best.<br /><br />She did a 50km race six weeks later, finishing first out of the female contestants. <br /><br />Then, at 20 weeks pregnant, with the “the tiniest of bumps”, she took part in The Race to The Stones - a 100 km cross country race along Britain's oldest footpath from Oxfordshire to Wiltshire. <br /><br />Despite temperatures soaring above 20 degrees, Sophie finished in the top ten overall and was the second woman to cross the finishing line. <br /><br />And in October last year, at 31 weeks pregnant, she completed the Virtual London Marathon, finishing in an impressive time of three hours and 39 minutes.<br /><br />Sophie says running a marathon while pregnant is no different to preparing for a regular marathon.
